Industry Links

WOODBRIDGE, NJ, USA—America's packaging printers want their ink to perform on press as well or better than advertised. That's the key finding of a recent survey distributed among 2,000 printers by the National Association of Printing Ink Manufacturers (NAPIM).

"While the overall survey results were in line with most of our expectations, NAPIM is both pleased and somewhat surprised with our printing customers' focus on improved product performance," says NAPIM's executive director James Coleman. "Until recently, our past research indicated printers were more concerned with service than price on how inks ran on press. Perhaps the rapid pace of change in press technology makes it even more imperative for printers to work closely with their ink suppliers so they can realize more benefits of new equipment investments," he adds.

According to NAPIM, the 2001 Ink Industry Evaluation Survey was conducted to quantify the characteristics and opinions of printing ink users on a variety of issues. Ultimately, says the association, NAPIM's goal was to obtain results that could be used easily by the organization and its members to insure that printing manufacturers continue to meet the needs of their customers.

The survey's demographic profile showed the "typical" respondent's firm: purchases $300,000 worth of printing ink each year; has approximately 105 employees; and that 67% of those surveyed classified themselves as packaging printers.

For more information about NAPIM visit www.napim.org. NAPIM members can obtain a copy of the complete survey results by sending a message to napim@napim.org.